eli5 since diamonds are compressed carbon is it combustible? I don’t think so but why?
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Combustion is an oxidation reaction: breaking apart the atomic bonds that exist and replacing them with atom:oxygen.
The difficulty in burning diamond is that all of the carbon is very, very strongly bonded to other carbon. This is the same reason that carbon is very hard, it is difficult to physically break off a piece of diamond because all of the carbon is strongly bonded to other carbon in the crystal. In an analogous manner it is difficult to break off a single carbon in order to react it with oxygen.
However, it is difficult to burn diamond, not impossible. By raising the temperature you can add a ton of energy into the atoms that is stored as vibrations of atoms in the crystal lattice and makes the bonds relatively easier to break. At ~850C the diamond will start reacting with oxygen in the air and combust.
In practical terms that means diamonds feel non-combustible (most flames are much less hot than this, so I would eg. expect diamonds to survive a house fire.). But they can combust under the right circumstances.
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